


Left

by unsettled



Category: Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Genre: Angst, Community: sherlockkink, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-01
Updated: 2010-07-01
Packaged: 2017-10-10 08:27:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/97676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unsettled/pseuds/unsettled
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a misunderstanding; Henry wouldn't <i>leave</i> him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Left

**Author's Note:**

> Fill for this kink meme prompt: _ Coward has realized that his idol and lover was nothing but a crook who used him. Bonus points for prison rape (by the guards or whoever else you wish) before he's hanged._ (I didn't manage the bonus this time.)

Coward holds Lord Blackwood's gaze, his lips curved into a smile of anticipation as the clock strikes, booming through these hallowed halls, and waits for gasps to start, waits for the bodies to begin dropping.

_Ten, Eleven, Twelve…_

And the roar does not turn to dying cries. It increases, swelling, rolling over him, and he can feel the smile draining off his face. He is begging Blackwood now, worried, and could this possibly be his fault? That he let Holmes get away? Blackwood breaks contact with him, eyes sweeping over the milling crowd of lords, and he turns, turns and leaves, is gone, and Coward feels something stutter inside him.

He is gone.

The roar brings him back, and the lords are taking notice now of who was speaking when this all started. The press in, and Coward swallows hard against panic. He pushes forward, trying for the dais, shoving and fighting against the crowd, but they have him now, are none too kind about it, and surely, any moment now, Henry will reappear, will come back for him even if the plan has fallen apart. Surely. But the seconds tick past, and the hands on him grow rougher, dragging him towards the now unchained doors, the other members of the order seized as firmly as he is.

They pass him to the police, and he thinks for a moment of fighting, of getting away – Blackwood will be waiting for him. He doesn't know where they will meet, but there are any number of places he can go, can leave a message, can be reunited. He kicks out, and the officer releases him in surprise. He is handcuffed, but that won't stop him long; he turns to run, and only gets a few steps before they bring him down, and now he is struggling in earnest, because he must get away. It's a misunderstanding; Henry wouldn't _leave_ him. He fights them madly, and it takes a sharp blow to his head before he gives up, ears ringing, vision spinning.

They drag him through the halls of parliament, and Henry isn't coming. They half carry him through the enraged crowd outside, and Henry isn't coming. Into the carriage, _he isn't coming_, into the yard, _he isn't coming_, and finally, into a cell, pushed hard enough to make him stumble, make him fall, and how dare they touch him like that, he's a Lord, _and he isn't coming_.

He has been a fool. A blind, easily led fool, so desperate for praise, for power, for affection, that he has doomed himself. Has tied himself to a criminal, a bastard son, a traitor to the crown, and there is no way out of this.

That inspector, Lestrade, a man he used to command, is standing before him, and he hurls filthy, half incoherent words at him. "You'll hang for this," Lestrade tells him, "and for your friend's crimes as well, since he's beyond reach.", and it makes him sick to know that Henry has gotten away, is free, and he is here, paying for both their crimes, and _he didn't even try_.

The thought rips into him, and he is at the bars in an instant, but Lestrade is too smart to stand near enough for damage; he summons what composure he has left and spits at the man's feet. Lestrade steps back with an expression of disgust, and another Yarder punches him through the bars, hard, and his breath rushes out of him. "I won't lift a finger to stop them," Lestrade tells him, and leaves.

Coward retreats to the corner of his cell, and thinks of the last hanging he attended, and lets the bitterness eat at him.


End file.
